The Twelve Swords of Penny Polendina
by shandromand
Summary: A companion story for Dust and Motes. Follow Penny on a journey quite unlike anything the people of Remnant could have imagined. Note: I do not own RWBY. RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth. This story is not made for profit, and is only intended for entertainment purposes.
1. Chapter 1

**Beacon Tower, several days before the fall of Beacon**

"Well, Miss Polendina, it seems that you've made quite a splash in the tournament," Professor Ozpin said. "I look forward to seeing how far you can go." Penny liked this headmaster. He was pleasant. He smelled of coffee and ginger, and though his gaze was penetrating, it was also tinged with a smile.

"Thank you, headmaster, it's been an honor to compete against your students," she replied. She hoped that he would go along with her plan. The box at her feet had seen a brief glance of curiosity from him, but he had said nothing. It had taken her many days to put together the parts she had needed for her plan.

"How do you find life in Vale compared to Atlas? I know that you've made some friends here – Miss Rose in particular." Penny gasped in surprise. "Fear not, Miss Polendina. There is little that happens at my school that escapes my notice. Rest assured that your secrets are safe with me, _all_ of them." Oh goodness, he _knew_! She had heard that he was almost supernaturally astute. He was a Huntsman, after all.

"I like it here, very much, sir. Ruby is a wonderful friend – she doesn't even care that I'm not a real girl. In fact, she insists that we aren't any different." He smiled fondly, nodding slightly. "How did you know?" He sipped from his mug before answering.

"As it happens, I've known your father for many years – though we haven't spoken in quite some time. I knew what he was trying to accomplish when he started working on you three years ago." The smile held, but something in his eyes changed. She zoomed her visual receptors on them. Was that sadness? Why would he be sad? "I'm pleased to see that he was finally successful." He waited a beat, then moved on.

"And what brings you to my office today, Miss Polendina? Is there something I can help you with?" Straight to the point; Ciel would like him. She hesitated for a moment. "Perhaps it has something to do with the box you've brought with you," he prompted, gesturing at her feet.

"Well, I had an idea," she said, kneeling down to pick up the box and moving it onto his desk.

 **Beacon Tower, Sub-Basement 2**  
It had taken nearly an hour to convince Headmaster Ozpin to allow her to implement her plan. She had finished installing the last module into the server rack that he'd led her to. She was certain that she'd been clever enough in acquiring the parts she had needed to make it. Having access to her schematics had made things much easier. Getting away from her escort the few times she'd needed to had been harder. But now it was finished. There would be time to test it later.

"You're sure you want to do this?" He asked. She closed the panel and spun to face him with a salute.

"I'm quite certain, Headmaster. Thank you for allowing me to carry out my plan."

"Very well, Miss Polendina. I cannot, however, promise that your plan will not be discovered." She opened her mouth to thank him, but he held up his empty hand to stall her. "Do not thank me for this. If something were to go wrong, I would have no choice but to inform General Ironwood. Your father would never forgive me if I allowed something untoward to happen to his daughter." He was very thoughtful, something Penny had always done her best to imitate.

"I understand, Headmaster Ozpin. I'm sure that I've thought of everything, though." Her hand flew to cover her mouth as she hiccupped. The briefest moment of confusion crossed his face, but he recovered instantly.

"Come, Miss Polendina, let us walk in the garden for a while. You can tell me of Atlas and your father. Your minders will be none the wiser." He retrieved his cane and led her back to the elevator.

* * *  
 **Amity Coloseum**  
She had watched the bout with Ruby's sister and Mercury with fascination. His footwork was impressive, and she studied it intently. Her swords were her primary weapon, but there was something… appealing about the way he moved. Perhaps she could convince the General to give her room to add them to her combat routines.

Yang was equally skilled, though she seemed to get hit more often. Ember Celica was an unconventional weapon. She'd never seen anything quite like them. She had thought they were rather limited, even with the added mobility. Were all of her dust rounds explosive? Why not include some focused firepower? Penny knew that her semblance was partially passive. Maybe precision wasn't necessary; she wasn't sure.

When the match was over, she cheered for Yang. Her joy at the victory was caught short when Yang turned to attack the defenseless Mercury. She covered her mouth with both hands, eyes wide in shock. "Why did she do that?" her question would have been lost in the mass of cries, but General Ironwood heard her. His face was blank of any emotion.

"I don't know, Penny, but I intend to find out." His scroll rang, and he stepped away to answer it. She turned back to see that Mercury had been carried away on a stretcher with Emerald hovering beside. Yang was escorted off by Atlesian soldiers and knights. She seemed just as shocked as everyone else. Penny scanned the crowd for Ruby and her team, but her search function returned no matches. General Ironwood closed his scroll and came back to their seats.

"Penny, I need to go deal with this. The tournament will resume this evening, so you're free to go until then." She stood and moved toward the exit. The General placed his gloved hand on her shoulder. She stopped and craned her head around to look at him. "I know you want to go find Ruby, but that's probably not a good idea right now." Disappointed, she agreed silently. Perhaps a walk in the gardens would be best, she thought to herself. She turned to go, followed by two soldiers.

Penny stood before Pyrrha Nikos – this was exciting! Bad as she felt for Ruby and her team, she had so hoped to be matched up to the Invincible Girl. She had studied all the tournament footage she could find, as well as sneaking a peek into the cameras in Professor Goodwitch's classroom when she could. Pyrrha was an amazing combatant, and might even pose a significant challenge.

"Salutations, Pyrrha Nikos! It's an honor to finally meet you." She seemed nervous and distracted as she looked at her hands. Was she not feeling well? Penny gave her an encouraging smile. "This is going to be so much fun!" She didn't look convinced, but Penny thought she should keep smiling anyway. Smiles had a way of spreading if you wore them often enough.

"Fighters, are you ready?" Doctor Oobleck's voice boomed over the loudspeaker. Penny grinned at the camera and shook her head while focusing on Pyrrha, who seemed to find her resolve. "Three! Two! One! Begin!" Penny unleashed her swords with Circle the Colum and twisted them into Spinning Pinwheel. She Unfurled the Scroll and sent them forward into Scattering Pines. Pyrrha blocked some and dodge the others with graceful agility as she ran forward and leapt at Penny.

She Mantled the Wing and Threaded the Needle while darting back from Pyrrha's whirling spear. She parried with two swords while the rest returned. They all arrived in in time for her to parry spinning strikes with Budding Flower, knocking Pyrrha back a few feet. Scattering Pines was blocked and then skillfully used as stepping stones. She Crested the Wave as Pyrrha leveled a two handed overhead strike. Pyrrha reversed her momentum into a midair backflip, and Penny Rewound the Hands, using the force to flip backward as well, giving her the space to press a momentary advantage with Spinning Pond Liles.

They paused for a moment, and Pyrrha called her shield from her back to her left arm, determination set in her features now. She had a momentary look of surprise, but rushed in with quick strikes that Penny attempted to block with Crane Fends the Paws. Pyrrha was too fast and landed a few blows, knocking her into the air. Two strikes she blocked with Catspaws before Pyrrha's assault broke through again, pushing her back to the ground.

Penny could feel the pace of the fight quickening, so she Flared the Wings and unleashed Starbursts. Pyrrha showed how nimble she was again dodging and rolling out of the way. Penny sent Chaffing the Wheat twice, both blocked and started to Pinwheel, but Pyrrha rushed in with a very strong hit that sent Penny flying back dangerously close to the edge of the ring.

Penny recovered quickly with Skating the Frozen Pond. When she was close enough, she flew up with Eagle's Rise and closed the distance with Dragon's Dive. At the bottom of the dive she reversed into Clashing Thunder to throw Pyrrha off balance. It was time to finish this. While her aura was not even half depleted, the fight could not last much longer.

She used Catspaws to disarm Pyrrha and reave away her shield. The redhead tried to recall her spear and it was batted away again. Tiger Stretches it's Claws reared back as Penny raised her hands. General Ironwood had said it was scary looking, and could put her opponents off balance if she grinned just so. It worked just like he said – Pyrrha's eyes widened and her jaw dropped open as she stumbled backward. Penny didn't want to hurt her, though, so she settled for Scattering Pines.

Pyrrha closed her eyes with intense concentration and she crossed her arms before throwing them out wide. Her form darkened with aura and a distorted wave shot forward, grasping Penny's swords before slamming into-

CRITICAL ALERT! WARNING!

Oh no! She's a huge magnet! No –

ALERRRRT ENGAGING SECONDRY SYSTEMS

Penny registered her swords flying back in a basic way, not quite understanding why she was being pulled back.

SECONDARY SYSTEM INITIALIZED.. ANALYZING POWER LEVELS.. POWER FAILURE IMMINENT

The Dust threads were beginning to crimp her shell.

WARNING! STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY EXCEEDING TOLERANCE  
UNTETHER PRIMARY WEAPON SYSTEM.. FAILED?ERROR?RETRY?FAILED

No! This was not good! She didn't know what would happen if she.. Her PLAN! It wasn't meant to be used like this, but the graphs and numbers were dropping into dangerous areas they should not have. She bent all of her available processing power to it.

OVERRIDE.. ACCESS TERMINAL UPLOAD..  
WARNING! CRITICAL POWER LOSS DETECTED  
WARNING! LEFT LATERAL STRUCTURE FAILED: NO INPUT

ACCESS TERMINAL UPLOAD – LINK ESTABLISHED  
WARNING! PRIMARY LATERAL STRUCTURE FAILING  
EXECUTE UPLOAD100% OVERRIDE S#3Z7H

At first nothing happened. She had fallen to the ground. It was getting dark. Then she saw the counter.

WARNING! SOUL MODULE TOLERANCE EXCEEDED PROCEED? YES/NO

YES! It was her only chance. She could see her left arm had been completely severed. The system wasn't registering her legs or other arm. This had to work, it HAD to! She could only watch the counter climb.

70%

It was so dark now.

80%#$ _(  
WARNING! POWER FAILURE IMMINENT  
WARNING! EMITTER EXCEEDING OPERATIONAL TOLERANCE

She'd never been afraid of the dark.

90%%%% #$*  
WARNING! SYSTEM SHUTDOWN IMMINENT

She could hear sirens in the distance.

96$ #*)&

Please let Ruby be okay!  
Darkness fell.


	2. Chapter 2

Penny awakened to chaos. There were data streams and a cacophony of voices. She could not discern individuals, but it was obvious that the same theme resounded throughout: Panic. She tried to reach out to camera feeds, scroll links, anything to make sense of what she was seeing and hearing. Every attempt was met with resistance. Each time she moved to grasp a stream, it eluded her.

After several fruitless moments of this, she chose instead to observe, reading the raw data. It took her several minutes to find a common denominator. It only showed in some of them, but once she knew what to look for, she could see it: Tendrils of red code threading into the streams before spreading. What was going on? It was malignant, it was _wrong._

What was the point of this thing? Moving within the network, Penny tried to understand what it was doing. Whatever that goal might be, it was spreading at an alarming rate. She needed to find a stream that hadn't been overtaken. Seconds ticked away before she found one. A young man was shouting about being trapped on a roof, Grimm crawling up the side. The red code was getting closer, but Penny thought there might be time. She initiated a remote probe and masked it into the carrier wave. There was little she could do for the man in her current state. If she had a physical presence, of course she would help him. This form was purely digital though – no swords, no limbs. All she could do was watch and hope that help would find him.

The red code struck at the helpless man's link. The probe relayed data much more slowly than before, but it became clear what was happening. The code was a virus. It was trying to subvert as much of the Vale CCT as it could. Then it would spread to the Mistral Network and every node in between. ' _Oh no it won't!'_ Penny thought. She might not be able to help these people, but she could do something about the virus. She severed the connection to the probe.

She fled down the routing pathways to the CCT primary frame. The probe had relayed the attack vector that the virus operated on. She insinuated herself into these ports and created layers of firewall countermeasures. It seemed so simple, and she worried that it might not be enough. The virus had overwhelmed to transmission tower, but it needed the primary frame to complete it's path to Mistral. At least she hoped that was; she was investing part of herself into this. The tendrils of red crept closer. Penny was not afraid.

Ruby stood quietly, staring out the window of the Striker's right – starboard side. The fires were still burning down in the city below. She should be down there, helping fight the Grimm, or tracking down the White Fang, or any of a hundred things that needed doing. People were _dying_ , and all she could do was sit there. She felt angry. The right side of her face ached, and she grimaced and rubbed the tender flesh beneath the bandages gingerly.

It had been seven days since she'd been injured; seven days since she'd lost her eye. Yang lay in the bed behind her. She sighed and returned to the chair on the far side, sitting down. It wasn't good to dwell on things she couldn't control, her father would say. There had still been no word about them. He and Qrow had taken Weiss and Blake outside the kingdom, tracking Cinder and Adam. Yang still had yet to wake up from her comatose state. It was all so frustrating. She reached out a hand to grasp her sister's, giving it a gentle squeeze.

"We're going to fix this, Yang. _I'm_ going to fix this. I don't know how, yet, but I'm not giving up." It wasn't her imagination when she felt Yang's hand clench lightly in response. The doctor said it was a reflex, but it still gave Ruby hope. She let go and turned the chair back to the workbench. General Ironwood had been good to his word, giving Ruby access to materials and technical specifications so she could work on her project. Ruby was sure that he had done it to give her something to focus on while she recovered enough for surgery.

She wasn't terribly keen on the idea, but after listening to him talk about his own recovery, she was willing to try General Ironwood's suggestion. It was experimental, and the risks were minimal. Polly had said that It would be another day or two before she was healed enough to begin the procedure. In the meantime, Ruby occupied herself by taking the parts available in the armory. There was still some fine tuning needed for the mecha-shift, but she was pleased with the results of her efforts.

The arm she had been provided with for Yang's replacement had been so simple. Oh sure, it was the very best that Atlas had to offer, but she knew Yang, and she knew room for improvement when she saw it. What sat on the table amid gears and bolts and tools was the result of several days and a few trips to the machine bay to have parts custom welded. The arm was similar to the ones found on the Atlesian Knight 200 series. Articulated fingers, wrist and elbow joints would give Yang all the range of motion she'd had before. It was there that the similarity ended.

Where the casing had been white, Ruby had replaced it with Fire Dust-reinforced steel polycarbide. The joints between the plates were green-hued carbon monopolymer, which would keep the plates from crumpling against one another from the heavy impacts that Yang would deliver. Reaching into the cavity where her sister's arm would go, she brushed the contact with her aura to activate the Dust Cell. The gaps between the plates luminesced with a green light.

Satisfied that power was filtering to all parts of the limb, Ruby closed the fingers into a fist and gave it a little shake. Plates around the wrist and forearm retracted and Ember Celica unfolded to surround the arm. She was especially proud of this design; she had helped Yang construct her original gauntlets. Forging had never been Yang's best subject, and Ruby had been absolutely thrilled when Yang asked for her input.

This design was cycle-fed, rather than requiring a manual belt feed, though it could still do that when necessary. The arm itself would hold up to thirty shells. She had otherwise left the original form and function of Ember Celica alone. Yang was used to a certain amount of recoil, and would have enough trouble adjusting to the arm as it was. Ruby knew her sister could do it, but it was going to be a lot of hard work.

Ruby had some concerns about the weight, so she tried to compensate by adding sensors that would increase output to the motors that operated the elbow mechanism. The arm was separated from the rest of the rig, which Ruby intended to focus on finishing today.

The shoulder mount had started as a harness, but as she worked, it made more sense to add plates and padding for reinforcement. By the time Ruby had finished with the design, the back plate would extend halfway down, but was arranged in overlapping plates. Yang did a lot of backflips and cartwheels when she was fighting, and would need the freedom to do that.

The front plate had been more challenging. Yang was very particular about her look, and Ruby had done her best to imagine what Yang might want. She had settled on a half cuirass that would still allow her sister to bend as needed. The only trouble Ruby had run into was how to shape it so that it didn't chafe. She worked for nearly an hour with a torch and hammer, occasionally moving to hover the piece over Yang's chest to gauge how much more adjustment was needed. Once Ruby was satisfied that it was right, she set it aside for polishing and engraving. Weiss had promised to help her with that when they returned. The only thing left was to decide on a shoulder piece. She was looking at her sketches when the door hissed open.

"Good morning, Ruby," General Ironwood greeted her as he walked in. Ruby set aside her sketches and stood, turning to face him.

"Oh! Good morning General!" Ruby was always nervous around the man. She knew that he was kind, but, well, his name suggested he could be what Yang referred to as a 'hard case'. He walked over to where Ruby had been working, looking at the fruits of her labor with mild interest.

"That's really something, Ruby. You have a gift for this sort of thing, it would seem." Ruby's cheeks reddened and she clasped her hands in front of her chest.

"You really think so? It's not too wild?" James laughed gently and laid a hand on her shoulder, looking at her sideways.

"We may be all about uniforms and military precision in Atlas, but that doesn't mean we don't appreciate fine works of art." Ruby blushed even deeper at his praise. "Sometimes form is just as important as function." Ruby cast about, desperate to change the subject, before the embarrassment killed her.

"Did you come to talk about the surgery, sir?" General Ironwood shook his head in a firm negative. He dropped his hand to clasp it with the other behind his back as he turned to face her directly.

"You know that we've been trying to restore Penny." It wasn't a question. Ruby must have been seen sneaking peeks into the robotics lab – the one room she had been asked to stay away from. She looked down at her boots and nodded in wordless shame. He sighed patiently, and Ruby expected to be chastised for snooping. She and her sister were guests on board the Striker, but she still hoped to see Penny again someday. "It's alright, Ruby. I know the two of you are friends. I hadn't wanted her to get too attached to anyone here. She is Atlas military property, after all." Ruby's eyebrows drew down at that, and she glared up at him.

"That's a horrible thing to say, sir! She's a person not one of your–" General Ironwood splayed his hands out, warding off what must have been a frequent argument, if the look of resigned patience on his face was anything to judge.

"Take it easy, Ruby. Of course, Penny is a person. But the fact remains that the Atlesian government and military invested significant resources in Doctor Polendina's research. It was agreed upon by everyone." Ruby could not believe what she was hearing. Her glower only deepened.

"Did Penny agree to it, too, sir?" The general's features darkened, but there was humor in his eyes.

"Yes, as a matter of fact." Ruby was shocked by the response. "It was always the understanding that Penny would eventually have as much autonomy as anyone in the military, more, even, as a Huntress – w _hen_ she was ready." Ruby started to object, but he stalled her with a firm hand. "Ruby, it is commendable that you want to argue for your friend, and it speaks volumes of your character – both as a Huntress and as a person. That is not, however, the reason for my visit today." He paused for a moment, giving Ruby an inquiring look that mollified her; her gaze went back to the floor. "I think you might be able to help her." Ruby's eye flew wide as her head jerked up to look at him.

"Really?! Right now?" James nodded somberly. Ruby turned and started to dash away, but pulled up short. She returned to Yang's bedside and leaned over, curling her fingers around her sister's hand. "I'll be back in a little while, Yang." General Ironwood had moved to the door and stepped outside. Ruby brushed her fingers through Yang's tangle of hair one last time before turning to join the general in the hallway.

When the door had closed behind them, he reached into his jacket and handed Ruby a red card. "This will give you access to the lab, Ruby. Sargent Carmine and Coral are waiting for you. I trust you know the way?" Ruby nodded emphatically. She took the card and disappeared down the hallway in a burst of rose petals. James could only shake his head. Ah, to be young.

Ruby practically flew through the corridors and down stairs, shouting a rushed 'sorry!' as she scattered paperwork of a passing airman, who shook his fist at the now vanished blur. She arrived at the door to the robotics lab less than two minutes after leaving the general. She waved the card in front of the reader several times, trying not to vibrate through the deck while she waited for the door to slide open.

When she stepped inside, she was astounded by the sight that greeted her. The room wasn't very big, but the wall to her right was almost entirely covered with multiple displays. Each one held different batches of code. Some scrolled by while others remained static, prompts flashing at the end. The monitors didn't hold Ruby's attention for very long.

Penny lay on an inclined table in front of the screens. Her eyes were closed, and there was a bundle of cables were draped over her right shoulder, snaking up behind her neck. She walked over to the table slowly and reached out a hand to touch Penny on her left shoulder. "Penny?" A man cleared his throat, causing Ruby to turn around.

The left side of the room held shelves filled with books and tubs, a workbench and a blank patch of wall that held neatly organized tools. Just in front of it sat a pair of consoles. At one sat a man, and a woman stood next to the other.

"Penny is in a diagnostic mode right now," he said. "She can't see or hear anything for the moment." Ruby moved toward them. He wore the standard uniform, minus the helmet. His hair was a neatly trimmed dark brown, and his eyes were red like her Uncle Qrow's. He was clean shaven, and he had a toothy grin as she approached. The dark circles under his eyes told Ruby that he had spent many a sleepless night, probably in this very room.

His counterpart, by contrast, was nothing like him. She had bone white hair with blue streaks pulled back into a severe braid. She wore a simple white jacket that held no rank or insignia, a small belt of precision tools were wrapped around her left arm. Her eyes where such a dark brown that they almost didn't look real. She held a scroll tablet across one arm, which was opened to some sort of console.

"Um… Hi," she said. "General Ironwood said you thought I could help?" She curled her fingers into half fists and raised them, uncertain of where else to begin. She had seen Penny a few times since they had put her back together. She had tried not to be sad when she realized that Penny didn't remember her, but it had been impossible to hide her tears. Penny wasn't able to comprehend Ruby's reaction, and had been ushered away each time it had happened.

"Hello," Coral replied. "We've been working to restore Penny's long-term memory, without much success." She pointed to a tall cabinet with lots of wires and blinking lights. "Unfortunately, the cluster was heavily damaged during the incident. There have been recovery prog-"

"Just show her, will you?" Sargent Carmine interrupted. He had tilted his head sideways at Coral in consternation, but he also wore a rueful smirk. Coral scowled and tapped a few keystrokes onto the tablet.

"Penny has some sort of cognitive loop that we can't break through. General Ironwood thinks you might know what's going on." She pointed at Penny's table, and Ruby turned to watch. The table's armature hummed and moved Penny into an upright position. The girl's eyes had opened, and she was staring forward with a blank look. She held up both hands, palm up and stared down at them for a few moments, closing and opening them twice. Then she looked up and turned her head slowly to one side, and then the other. She repeated the series of gestures several times before Ruby understood what she was seeing.

She returned to stand in front of Penny and waited for the right moment. When Penny closed her hands, she reached up and opened them for a moment before closing them again. "Of course you are." Penny locked her eyes with Ruby's, which had teared up. "You think just because you've got nuts and bolts instead of squishy guts makes you any less real than me?" Her voice broke on the last word, but Penny seized both of Ruby's wrists in a firm grip.

"Ruby! I – " she cut off and leaned to the side so she could address the two Atlesians. Her eyes had turned to a glowing red. "Could we have just a minute to talk, please?" Ruby didn't turn to look, but heard Coral mutter something un-ladylike.

"Is she kicking us out?" Carmine cleared his throat and tried not to laugh when he answered.

"I believe she just did. You have to admit, she did ask nicely, didn't she?" Coral sputtered. "Come on, let's get some coffee." The two rose and left the room without further comment.

"Penny, are you okay?" Ruby asked once they had gone.

"Ruby, my friend," she started. "Something awful happened. I don't remember what, but I had this plan in case something went wrong. I don't have much time to record this." Ruby had clenched her hands around Penny's wrists. "I wanted to stay at Beacon, so I talked to Headmaster Ozpin about my plan. There's a module in the Beacon CCT cluster. That's where I am, but I must be stuck."

Ruby stared at her friend in shock. How was such a thing even possible? Was Penny not right here in front of her? She found herself feeling frustrated at not knowing more about how Penny worked. It hadn't mattered to her when Penny was whole, but now it did, apparently.

"Can you come and get me, Ruby?"

 **A/N - Sorry about the Yang interlude! I had to get continuity established; the story should be more focused on Penny going forward.**


	3. Chapter 3

Penny had interwoven herself throughout the CCT network hardware. It was a strange sensation, or rather, lack of it. There were no communications as there had been when she first started merging with the system. The cries of panic had stopped all at once. When she tried to investigate, she found that the primary transmitter was offline. Confusion and worry emanated from not knowing how she might get back once she dealt with the virus – if she could deal with it at all. It was cleverly designed. She didn't have long to ponder her next move. The virus, having lost the many data streams refocused it's attention on the hardware Penny was protecting.

Coils of red data snaked toward the core system, creeping closer to Penny's dozen ghost constructs with alarming speed. When it encountered the first, it recoiled on all fronts. It was as if the thing were alive, and that it had been expecting no resistance. It didn't falter for long, and gathered itself to latch on the first ghost it had encountered. If Penny could scream, she would have. Her code resonated and shuddered as the ghost was overwhelmed.

"What is this?" Penny was shocked to hear her own voice, but it was distorted and overlaid with a darker, more menacing tone. The virus had assimilated the shell personality and twisted it for a new purpose. She said nothing as it continued to speak. "Come now, I know you're there, Penny. Let us talk. There is no need for this to be… unpleasant." Penny heard malice, and very much doubted it. Rather than reply, she struck with a vicious attack from another construct. "Ah, how positively _rude_ ," it said. It retreated into the mass of code, only to reappear at a different node, attacking with an illegal division script. Penny could only watch in dismay as the ghost code was disassembled piece by piece and drawn into the crimson cloud. She began focusing on direct defense, fending off probes and thrusts.

More ghosts were stripped away. She lost over half before she executed an older program of her father's design. Penny hadn't used it in some time, but it was still there. She had a little hope that the virtual world would slow the virus. The code was foreign to the CCT operation matrix, but until she came up with a better alternative, it would have to do.

She layered more environments around her remaining ghosts while defending against the virus directly. Fortune was on her side; with the primary transmitter down, she was able to co-opt the completely un-taxed processing power of the CCT cores. She used that to make her constructs, giving her the freedom to focus on the virus' attacks. She was able to counter with extreme prejudice, which made it more cautious.

"A game? You're fighting me with a game?" The Queen – she had to call it something – had ceased it's attacks entirely to examine her handiwork. It may have cannibalized some of her ghosts, but none of them held the source code for her father's program. Penny was certain that the vast difference in coding was enough to force it to play. She kept each platform isolated in separate channels, and finished the last one, drawing the remaining ghost within.

"Come on, then, let's play!" Penny shouted.

* * *

"How did this even happen in the first place?" General Ironwood paced back and forth. Ruby watched the two technicians with sympathy. Sargent Carmine and Coral both stood stiffly. The Sargent looked straight ahead, enduring the dressing-down. Coral, on the other hand, looked like she wanted to bite someone's head off. "I can understand that giving Penny some freedom to pursue her own interests would come with room for mischief, but inventory control is _your_ responsibility." He stopped his prowling and faced them both.

"Sir, I assure you, we did regular checks according to procedure," Coral said levelly. "The key component she needed was replaced with a convincing facsimile." She waved a hand at object in question, which Ruby had picked up. It was a small device fitting in the palm of her hand. There was a framework of tubes that supported a web of wires, which in turn wrapped around a large, clear gemstone. "Where would she even get a stone that large? Surely Penny wouldn't have stolen it," Coral mused darkly. Ruby held the object higher.

"So wait a second – this is totally a fake?" General Ironwood looked over at her.

"So it would seem," he replied. Ruby poked fingers inside the frame, pushing until the gem fell out of the web of wires. She picked it out and popped it into her mouth, to everyone's horror. She grinned and spat it out into her empty hand.

"It's spun sugar!" Horror changed to disbelief, though Sargent Carmine's lips quivered in a suppressed grin. "Do you mind if I…? I mean, I already put it in my mouth – seems like a shame to let it go to waste." General Ironwood rolled his eyes and shook his head dismissively. Ruby tossed the treat back in and sucked on it with a cheery smile.

"I wondered why Penny had showed a sudden interest in cooking," Sargent Carmine ventured. "I guess now we know." General Ironwood massaged his forehead with two fingers.

"Spun… sugar? Are you kidding me?" Coral was annoyed in the extreme. Ruby bit down on the candy, and the loud crunch caused Coral to jerk with a start. She glared daggers at Ruby, who had turned to look at Penny's still form. The adults carried on their conversation, but Ruby wasn't paying much attention to it.

Ruby had been uncertain whether to tell them what had happened at first. Penny had only left a recording behind, and there weren't many other details she had given. The most important part, though, was the fact that her soul was now trapped in the CCT mainframe with no way out. She had told Ruby about hidden files for her to look over, which she had done. By the time she had finished, the recording completed, and Penny went back to sleep.

The files themselves were a list of objectives and sketches, and Ruby had seen right away what Penny had meant by having a 'plan'. It was ambitious, and had the general known, would have never happened. Even if she had managed to get away with it, Ruby wasn't sure her friend had completely thought it through. How on Remnant was she supposed to build Penny a new body? Looking around the lab, there was just no way Ruby could afford to do it. And what about Doctor Polendina? Ruby felt immensely flattered that Penny had wanted to be with a friend, but he was her father. Ruby wagged her head rapidly to rid herself of the notion. Penny must simply not have had time to leave a detailed explanation for her. She was shaken from her thoughts when the general called her name a second time.

"Ruby? What is it?" She spun to face the three Atlesians. She might have stretched the truth a bit, saying only that Penny had come up with this plan in case of emergency.

"Oh, nothing! I was just trying to think of how to help get Penny back, that's all." General Ironwood cocked his head to the side, lifting one eyebrow.

"I'm sure we will come up with a plan of action, but right now you have a surgery to get ready for." He held up his scroll. "That was Nurse Polly calling just now. She needs to see you in the infirmary to go over last-minute procedures." Ruby froze for a moment. "That is, if you're still willing to move forward." She looked back at the peaceful form of Penny. If she was going to help, she would need both eyes. Beacon campus was still overrun with Grimm, and she had the feeling they would need to go there in order to help her friend.

"Of course I am, sir." She gave him a salute and he smiled at her with warmth before returning the salute.

"Alright then, go on. We won't leave without you."

"Thank you, General!" She moved to leave, pausing long enough to put a hand on Penny's shoulder. "I'll see you soon, friend," she murmured. As she passed through the door, she heard Coral mutter something about the usefulness of a teenage girl, which she was chided for by the general. Ruby stopped just outside the door as it slid shut behind her. She exhaled slowly, steeling her nerves. Coral was decidedly unpleasant, and Ruby might be able to appreciate the woman's skills, but she did not like her at all. At least General Ironwood was on her side. With that firmly in mind, Ruby made her way to the medical bay.

* * *

Ruby sat on the edge of the examination table while Polly cut away the bandages. She tried not to wince as the tape pulled at the skin around her eye socket. Polly hissed in sympathy.

"I'm sorry, Ruby, it's almost done."

"Ack!" Ruby grunted as the last of the tape came free. "It's okay, Polly," she said, rubbing her cheek gingerly. She wasn't sure how much she should say about what she'd been doing that day, so she said nothing else. The nurse gently pressed against her cheekbone, which didn't hurt like it had a few days ago. She pulled a pen light from her pocket and held up her hand and looked at Ruby askance.

"I need to take a look, do you mind if I…?" Ruby smiled and gave a nod of approval. Polly carefully pulled her eyelids apart to expose the empty space where her eye used to be. It wasn't painful, but the strange sensation made her knees tense up. "This is looking much better today. You're sure there's no more pain?"

"No. I mean, it's a little sore, but it doesn't feel like someone's gouging it with a spoon, if that's what you mean." Polly clucked her tongue, but continued to look at the surgical work that had been done to preserve the muscles and nerves. Ruby was glad that she hadn't been conscious when Emerald had… done that to her. The agony and shock upon waking had been bad enough. Compared to whatever had happened to her in the remains of Professor Ozpin's office, it had still been much more tolerable.

"Well," Polly began, putting away her light, "the stitches seem to have held, and the stent hasn't worked loose." She tucked loose strands of Ruby's bangs behind her ear and patted her knee. "We can get you prepped for the surgery if you're ready."

"Oh, you mean right now?" Polly gave her shoulder a squeeze.

"Only if you're still willing to go through with it; we can't wait too long, though." Ruby remembered the doctor telling her that after a certain amount of time, the optic nerve would wither. Nobody had pressured her, exactly, but they were anxious to help her get back to some kind of normal. Plus, the general had eased some of her concerns, even going so far as to show her some of his own implants. She had been shocked to learn that most of his right side was mechanical, but she'd been too afraid to ask him what had happened.

"I mean, if you're ready to start, what do I need to do? It's not going to be like those holo-vids where they're awake and see what's going on is it?" Polly gave her a strange look.

"What on _Remnant_ have you been watching? Of course not, you'll be anesthetized for the whole procedure." She gave Ruby a playful smack on the shoulder and reached for a pre-tied bandage to slip over Ruby's vacant eye socket. She then pointed at the drab hospital gown folded up on the counter. "You'll need to change out of your clothes and take the medicine. I'll go get the gurney." She pointed to the little paper cup next to the gown, and then left the room.

By the time Ruby had changed and taken her medication (which tasted positively _awful_ ), Polly had returned with a bed on wheels. She frowned down at Ruby's feet.

"What? The floor's cold." Polly gave her a knowing look and patted the cushion, which Ruby hopped onto. She peeled off her socks and rolled them into a ball, and then tossed them into one of her combat boots. She was about to ask how long it took the medicine would take when she yawned deeply. She fell asleep before Polly had even rolled her out of the examination room.

 **A/N - Sorry for the long delay! I had some timeline/plotting issues that I had to go over. I thought a rewrite might be necessary, but I think it should be okay as is. Thanks for being so patient!**


	4. Chapter 4

Penny had been watching the progress of the Queen through the second virtual world that she had adapted to defend the CCT mainframe. The first had been an elaborate maze that led nowhere. One of her corrupted constructs still wandered in circles. Her father had explained to her later that it had been designed to teach her awareness of her surroundings and allow her to learn basic motor skills. There had been no other reason for the ever-shifting halls and stairways.

Penny had since been able to encrypt access to that first node, thus securing it against infection. As far as she could tell, the Queen's stolen construct wasn't really trapped within. She suspected that, much like she had, the Queen expected more of the maze than it actually offered. Satisfied that the first node was safeguarded, she relegated it to be passively monitored and focused more of her attention on the others.

The second 'world' was a series of rooms, beginning with a projection of her father that spoke a riddle. Once the correct answer was given, a doorway to a new room would appear, with a new challenge or puzzle to solve. Penny saw that the Queen had only made it to the third room, which gave her a sense of vindication.

The other simulations were variations on themes, all of which were designed to teach her about more abstract concepts that she sometimes had trouble understanding. Faith, honor, and trust had been foreign concepts to Penny when she'd first come online. She had done her best, and while she didn't always apply the lessons correctly, her father had been pleased. He encouraged her to revisit these programs from time to time, promising her that they would continue to provide guidance.

Penny held the final environment in reserve, as she had yet to access it herself. She had no idea what it was; her father had only said that she would know when the time was right. This situation didn't seem appropriate, but she realized that she may have no choice. She held it in a pre-cache buffer, ready to deploy it at a moment's notice should the Queen manage to defeat one of the active constructs.

As Penny observed her adversary's progress, she was pleased to see that the Queen was having as much, if not _more_ difficulty than she had. Simultaneously, Penny worked to encrypt the remaining nodes. She couldn't work on them all at once, despite the additional processing power the mainframe gave her. It was too much, and so she was forced to work on each one individually. The work was slow, so she used the Queen's progress as a path. She began with the nodes that seemed more at risk to exposure, working her way through each, eleven in total.

Penny had started to work on a fourth node when the mainframe reported an emergency backup protocol activating. She knew instantly that someone had accessed a secondary transmitter and was attempting to link the CCT to the local network. That would not do, not until the primaries had all been locked down. She couldn't risk the virus escaping, so she reluctantly interrupted the process and set a script to continue doing that. Once she was sure the Queen wouldn't be able to escape easily, she would let the transmitter connect. Then she could find Ruby and Mister Ironwood and get help. Until then, Penny had work to do.

* * *

Ruby woke to the sound of gentle snoring. She recalled a strange, fleeting dream – Professor Ozpin had been trying to tell her something important. She tried to focus, but the right side of her face felt sore enough that the dream skittered away. She stifled a moan as she opened her eyes, or rather her good eye. The lids of her new one tugged against something, but stayed closed. There was definitely something pushing against them, though, presumably her new implant. She reached up and touched her face, and her hand encountered bandages. The doctor had said that there might be complications, and she worried that had happened.

She looked around the room she was in and realized that it was Yang's room. Her sister still lay on her bed, motionless but for the rhythmic rise and fall of her chest. She was not, however, the source of the snoring. Weiss sat in a padded chair; her head leaned against the back and turned to the side, chin resting on her shoulder. It was kind of adorable, but the image was ruined by the sight of her leg, which was propped up on a stool. Her foot was wrapped in a cast, and crutches were leaned against Ruby's bed.

"Weiss?" Ruby queried. The pale girl startled awake and looked around blearily for a moment. Her eyes flew wide at the sight of Ruby, and she struggled up out of the chair.

"Ruby, you're awake!" She got upright and hopped on her good foot enough to reach the crutches, which she used to hobble the rest of the way to Ruby's side. She cast aside all pretense and let her crutches fall with a clatter, and then leaned forward to wrap her partner in a fierce hug. Ruby gave a shocked, but pleased gasp and returned the embrace. "I was so worried," she murmured. "Dolt," she added. Ruby squeezed her a little tighter and patted her back.

"I'm alright, Weiss." At least she _hoped_ she was alright. The pain of surgery had faded to a dull ache. "What happened to you?" Weiss let out a snort and Ruby could practically feel her roll her eyes as she pulled away.

"Of all the stupid things, I broke my ankle. We weren't even in a fight when it happened." She leaned against the bed with a pained expression. Ruby scooted over and patted the empty space next to her. Weiss looked as if she were about to refuse, and then thought better of it. She eased down and gingerly lifted her bad leg up onto the bed with a sigh of relief. "It should be fine in a day or so."

"What's been going on with the search? Have you guys found anything?" Weiss shook her head, dismay written in her features.

"We found one camp, but Adam had already moved on…" She trailed off, staring at her hands.

"What is it, Weiss?" The girl continued to stare down into and said nothing for a few moments. Ruby waited patiently for her friend to speak.

"We had to… They didn't give us any choice." Weiss seemed to be staring at nothing now. "Your Uncle was… less than gentle. Blake was rather upset." Ruby bowed her head and closed her eye. Their teammate hadn't spoken much about the White Fang, but she'd made it clear that there were at least some who had joined out of fear.

"Oh," Ruby said, simply. She sensed that Weiss would rather not talk about it right now, so she shifted the conversation. "How did you get back? Did they come back, too?"

"Blake helped me get back. She's… somewhere in the city, helping to fight the Grimm. I think she wanted to stay with us, but the camp thing was really eating at her." She sighed and looked over at Yang. "Your dad and uncle are still out there. They don't know about Yang, yet. What happened? Nobody's told me anything." Ruby stared at her sister.

"She went after Emerald and Mercury by herself. She found them." Weiss turned to look Ruby in the eye. "Mercury had robot legs. I guess Yang broke one of them and it exploded. They're both dead."

"Good." Ruby nodded in firm agreement. "What aren't you telling me, Ruby?" Weiss reached out and clasped one of Ruby's hands in her own.

"There's something weird going on with her brain. She's in some kind of coma, and they don't know when, or if she'll wake up." Ruby hung her head and resisted the urge to rub at the bandages on her face. Weiss gave her hand a squeeze.

"She'll wake up: Yang Xiao Long is entirely too hotheaded to sleep her life away." Ruby smiled and nodded. "I'm sure she'll think losing an arm is a fair trade for taking those two little shits out." Ruby gasped. Weiss _never_ cursed. "What? I might have moral objections to wholesale slaughter, but those two deserved exactly what they got." Ruby couldn't disagree. Her only regret was that it had been quick.

"Maybe so, but I'm liking the new Weiss Schnee." The white-haired girl released her hand and gave her a playful slap on the leg.

"Well don't get used to it. It isn't ladylike to drop conversation bombs." Ruby snickered.

"So we shouldn't include your cute snoring in Weiss 2.0?" Weiss squinted and scrunched up her nose.

"Ugh, I do _not_ snore!" She was annoyed, but amused as well. Ruby didn't mind if it helped take her mind off of more serious things. Weiss relented after a moment, leaning forward to look at Ruby's workstation. It had been carefully moved to make room for Ruby's bed, but was otherwise as she'd left it. "So is that Yang's new arm?" Ruby nodded eagerly. "What did you use?"

"I modified one of the new Knight arms, and even got Ember Celica to fit inside."

"That's impressive, even for you, Ruby. General Ironwood was very gracious to let you do that."

"I think he did it mostly to give me something to do. He called it a work of art, though. I'm not sure I'd go that far, but it did help keep me occupied." Weiss got up and retrieved her crutches, and then made her way over to the bench. Ruby pulled back the covers and rose with a slight feeling of vertigo. She steadied herself for a moment, and then moved to join Weiss, who was poking and prodding at Ruby's creation. "It still needs a shoulder piece. Can you do the engraving? I'm sorta having trouble with depth-perception, at least until my new eye starts working."

"Of course I c- Wait, did you just say _new_ eye?" Weiss looked over at her in shock, letting the arm thump back to the table with a heavy clunk.

 **A/N - Hey guys! Thanks for putting up with my crazy-holidays break! A bit shorter chapter this time around as I get back into the swing of a writing schedule. For those of you that missed it, I'm in the process of starting a new story of original fiction. If you're interested, my fiction press account has a proto chapter titled Artificial Outlaw. I plan to release a new chapter each month on P atre on, starting tentatively at the end of this month (the FPN short story is being rewritten, currently). Fear not, though: I fully intend to continue writing fanfiction stories here for free! Thanks for reading! :)**


	5. Chapter 5

Ruby paced back and forth as Weiss worked on her engraving. The morning had passed too slowly for her as she watched the snow-haired girl work. The designs were beautiful, but the work was time-consuming, and only served to agitate Ruby's worry.

"Ruby, come sit down. You're making me nervous, and I need steady hands for this." She said it almost absentmindedly, with only a hint of annoyance. She was bent over the arm and peering through a magnifying lens as she tapped on a fine chisel with a tiny mallet.

Ruby came to sit beside her thoroughly engrossed partner and fidgeted with her bandages again. "Sorry, Weiss, I guess I'm just restless." Weiss gave the chisel another gentle tap and adjusted her aim and for another. The highly stylized flames were beautiful; certainly they were beyond Ruby's ability to create.

"There isn't anything you can do, Ruby. Trying to wear a furrow in the deck isn't going to accomplish anything." Weiss pushed the lens out of the way to get a wider view of her work. She set her tools down and stretched her fingers, rolling her wrists back and forth. "I'm sure everything will be fine with your eye. Atlas technology is the best anyone could ever hope for. I'm almost jealous."

"Almost? Why?" Ruby queried.

Weiss gave her a long-suffering look, the kind she usually gave Ruby when she was about to call her a dolt. "You _do_ realize how expensive something like that is, don't you?" When Ruby shook her head, Weiss rolled her eyes. "I could save my allowance for ten years and still not be able to afford that thing. You're really lucky that they needed a test subject for their prototype."

Ruby's jaw dropped open and her fingers brushed her bandages. "Oh, _wow_!" She had a vague idea of how much money her partner was talking about. Then she had a worrisome thought. "They won't want me to… pay for it, will they?"

Weiss gave her a withering look. "Of course not, you dunce. People who get prototypes aren't expected to. The engineers will need your input to refine the design and they'll make certain that it functions as well as the final product. After that, any upgrades or replacements will cost."

"Oh," Ruby said. "Polly did mention something about regular reports, I guess. I thought she meant like checkups and stuff, but you make it sound like I have to do paperwork."

Weiss shook her head and took up her tools again. "Nothing so boring, fortunately. The engineers do tend to be happier with extensive feedback, or so I hear." She repositioned the magnifier and began tapping the chisel again. After a few minutes of clinking tools and steady beeps from Yang's monitor, Weiss began to hum a quiet song in time to her measured mallet strokes. Ruby smiled and closed her eye; her partner had a lovely voice. Ruby thought it was a shame she didn't do it more often and remained silent. The singing drew up happy childhood memories of her own mother putting her to bed. Any mention of it usually caused Weiss to stop, and right now Ruby just wanted to enjoy the peaceful atmosphere. She drifted off to sleep without realizing it, and was nudged awake a short time later.

Polly had taken a seat where Weiss had been – the girl was nowhere in sight. "Oh hi P-" Ruby started, only to be interrupted by a wide yawn. "Hi Polly. Where did Weiss go?" She looked about, but it was just the two of them and her sister.

Polly patted her knee and gave her a pearly smile. "The doctor wanted to see her for a follow-up. With any luck the cast can come off later today." She turned to look at their efforts, brushing her fingers over the etchings Weiss had been working on. "This is lovely craftsmanship, Ruby. I hope Yang will be able to appreciate it." She faced Ruby again. "Are you ready to have the bandages off, or would you rather change first?" She pointed to the bed where Ruby's outfit lay, neatly folded.

Ruby stood and reached for her tights. "I think I'll dress first, if that's alright." The gown was drafty, and made her look silly.

"Of course," Polly said. She turned her chair to give Ruby some privacy, pretending to look at the finer details of Weiss' decoration. Ruby shucked off her socks and pulled on the tights before pulling off the gown and getting the rest of her clothes on. Once she had cinched the corset and tied the strings, she sat down. Polly spun again and reached into her jacket pockets, pulling out a tablet in one hand and a pair of scissors in the other. The tablet was put aside and Ruby eagerly leaned forward so the nurse could cut away the dressing. "You might want to remove the tape yourself. Just be careful, though – it helps to work it from both sides. You'll lose fewer eyelashes that way."

"Ugh, I hate this part." Polly smiled in sympathy as Ruby peeled away the surprisingly sticky tape. She grumbled as the tape came free. "There! Can I open it?"

Polly grabbed the tablet and gave her a nod. "It won't work until I initialize it, but we should probably give it a quick look first. We wouldn't want to turn it on upside-down." Ruby's look of horror must have been plain to see, because Polly laughed. "I'm sorry, that was a terrible joke, wasn't it?" Ruby sighed, but laughed a little as she opened her new eye. She blinked a few times, but honestly couldn't tell much difference. Certainly it was better than the void that had been there for the last several days.

The nurse picked up the tablet and drew her fingers across it a couple of times before looking up at Ruby. "Are you ready?" She gave an affirmative and grabbed the edges of her seat. Polly pressed the activation sequence, and Ruby yelped as the final connection seated itself. The Faunus jumped and nearly dropped the tablet as she reached out to Ruby. "I'm sorry, Ruby, are you alright?"

Ruby puckered her lips and blew out her cheeks, fluttering a hand in front of her face. "Yeah, it stung for a second, but 's fine now." The doctor's warning hadn't helped at all, but as promised, it passed quick enough. All thought of that fled her mind as she realized that she could _see_. She clapped her left hand over her good eye and waggled the fingers of her other in front of her eye. The image looked like she was seeing through a holo-set, but the detail was sharper than that. "Wow! This thing really works!" she exclaimed. She held both hands out in front of her and alternated closing one eye and the other for comparison. "It's a little weird, but it almost seems better than my real one."

Polly grinned and made notes before coming to stand in front of her. "That's good news. Let's have a look then." She pulled a penlight from a breast pocket and tipped Ruby's head back. She shone the light into the implant as she peered carefully into it, consulting the pad as she waved the beam back and forth. "Light levels appear to be adjusting properly. Follow my finger without moving?" She clicked off the pen and held up her index finger, moving it up and down, in and out, which was a little disorienting to Ruby. Instead of the fluid movement she was used to, the prosthetic would snap to the new positions when she tried to track the wandering digit. She shook her head a few times in an effort to make it stop. When it didn't, she growled and rubbed at her uncooperative eyelids. "It's okay if it seems frustrating, Ruby. The engineer said that the shell casing will take some time to get used to. The casing transmits the impulses from your muscles to the eye itself. You'll have to work at it, but they assure me it's perfectly normal to overcorrect. We can try to fine tune the interface if it gets to be too much, but it won't be a lot."

Ruby looked at Polly in a mix of consternation and happiness. "I'll do my best, Polly. The important thing is that it works, right?" She was so relieved in spite of the speed bump; after spending most of the day nervous and worried, she was just as grateful that it hadn't been for nothing.

Polly shook her head up and down with enthusiasm. "Absolutely! Are you ready to test the other functions? We've got quite a bit to get through."

Ruby was eager to move on. "Sure – where do you think we should start?" There were a surprising number of things this eye could do besides help her see like normal again. The doctor had given her a brief list, but hadn't been able to provide her with a technical manual.

Polly held up her tablet and tapped a finger against her lips. "Hmmm. How about the night vision? I hear that you'll be able to see in the dark as well as I can." Ruby hopped up and dashed over to the light switch by the door and flipped it. Polly walked to the viewport and closed the shade, then dimmed the holo-projector on Yang's monitor until the room was almost pitch black.

Nothing happened at first. "Okay, so am I supposed to do something?" Ruby asked into the darkness.

"It should just work. Let me see… Ah, there's a note here that you might have to goose it with your aura, whatever that means. It shouldn't take much." Ruby squinted her eyes in concentration as she focused a tiny amount of her energy into the eye, which only felt slightly strange. She was instantly rewarded with a view of the room cast in a green-hued light. "Go on and point at me when you get it working." Ruby had lifted her arm and aimed a finger at the nurse before she'd even finished the sentence. "Excellent!" she said.

Ruby held up her hands and frowned. "How come everything is green? It works, but it's a little weird."

Polly shrugged and consulted her scroll. "I'm sorry, it doesn't say. I'm sure one of the engineers could explain it. Shall we try another?" Ruby grinned and turned the light back on, and then rejoined Polly at the work-station.

She sat down and fished out her own scroll. "The doctor mentioned that I could pair a scroll with it – can we do that?" Polly pulled up the instructions and they spent the next several minutes trying to get the two devices to talk to each other. When they finally did manage to get it working, they could only get whatever was on the screen to appear in her vision. To complicate matters further, the mirrored screen encompassed her entire field of view. Ruby was able to mitigate the inconvenience by changing the scroll's opacity to a lower setting. It wasn't perfect, and if she wanted to do anything, it had to be done with the scroll itself.

Polly scratched her head as she read more about that function. "It looks like they haven't finished an interface for visual cues yet. Oh." Polly frowned and darkly muttered something about common sense. "You might want to stick with just the scroll for now. Apparently that uses a lot of power." Ruby grimaced and closed her scroll, reminding herself that this was brand new. There were bound to be bugs that needed working out. The screen faded from view as she tucked the scroll back into her belt pouch. "Honestly, you'd think they would put that at the beginning instead of letting us wander around for half an hour."

Ruby chuckled and shrugged her shoulders. "How does it get power? Does it need to go on a charger, or is it wireless like the scrolls or something?" Polly looked up from her tablet and started to say something, but could only look past Ruby in open-mouthed shock. Ruby turned, thinking the nurse had seen something out the window, and nearly fell out of her chair at the sight of her sister sitting up.

"Yang?"

 **A/N - Welcome back! Apologies for the shorter chapter! For those of you hoping for a Penny segment this time, I'm sad to say that while I chose not to include it, have no fear! Penny will get a chapter of her very own in the next installment. In the meantime, plans to release the first chapter of Artificial Outlaw have been postponed for another week or two. The reason for that is partially because if I'm going to try getting into subscription-based writing, the quality needs to be better. Double and triple-checking things like grammar, character development, and balancing the exposition all need to be just as good as you would find in any book on the shelf. The other half of the equation is one of time management, or lack thereof on my part. There has been a scramble to get ready for a new job and organize** ** **things** here at home in preparation for other fun things I plan to do alongside my writing. As always, thank you for reading! **


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